Crazy Hair

Just a quick post - look at the crazy hair I came home to today!

Summer humidity is not Doodle's friend!

Protein Bars

I've been on the hunt for a protein bar that Doodle will eat. Have you ever noticed that the only protein bars available in the store are mixtures of nuts congealed together to form a bar? Well, Doodle absolutely hates them and when you're in a pinch and need some protein fast, there's not much choice out there. Personally, I love protein bars, but mine are peanut butter goodness covered in delicious chocolate - yum! It's a vast difference between my bars and any gluten free, vegan bar out there. So, I set out to make my own today and here's what i came up with - they turned out a bit like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Next time I think I will cut back on the chocolate.

Vegan Protein Bars

1 cup peanut butter
2 Tbsp Pea Protein Powder
3 Tbsp Agave Nectar
6 Gluten Free Graham Crackers - broken in half
1 bag Ghiradelli Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 Tbsp Shortening
cupcake liners

1. Mix the peanut butter, protein powder, and agave nectar in a bowl until it looks like cookie dough.
2. Place 2 cups water in a pan and bring to boil. Set temperature to low and simmer water.
3. Place a heat proof bowl over the simmering water. Add chocolate and shortening. Stir constantly.
4. Once chocolate is melted turn off heat and leave the chocolate on top of the water.
5. Dip the graham cracker half into the chocolate and completely cover with chocolate. Remove and place in cup cake liner. (repeat) Place these in freezer for 10 minutes to cool.
6. Remove graham crackers & chocolate from freezer and spread with peanut butter mixture. Return to freezer for another 10 minutes.
7. Remove from freezer and fill the cupcake liners up with remaining chocolate and place in freezer until hardened.

I had some peanut butter and chocolate left over, but no graham crackers, so I rolled the peanut butter mixture into balls and dipped in chocolate - to make some peanut butter balls. Doodle says they are delicious!

Riding a Two Wheeler

Today was an amazing day! Doodle learned to ride a two wheeler! I wasn't sure how we were going to teach her to ride a bike without training wheels - perhaps she would be like Alice on the Brady Bunch, riding with training wheels well into adulthood. I was OK with that, but figured she wouldn't want that. I feared with all of her coordination and attention issues she wouldn't be able to ride, steer, balance, and peddle all at once.

Then, I found a website that gave me the confidence to try it this afternoon. Bicycle.net had a great article on how to take the fear out of teaching a child to ride a bike. He claimed to be able to do it in an hour - not days on end.  So, I had my husband take the training wheels off of Doodle's bike and she and I set off to try out the technique.

He was right! It took Doodle 1.5 hours to be riding around our pond on her own (and I got quite a workout running beside her.)

Getting started

Doodle's riding on her own!

Giving Mom a Run For Her Money

The website suggests four steps: 
1. Ride in a circle while you hold onto the seat and handle bars - going one direction and then the other. We did this for about 30 minutes (Bicycle.net suggests 10 minutes, but it took us longer to get the hang of it). 

2. Go to a park with a large grassy field

3. Hold onto to the seat and run along side your child - like traditional methods - while on the grassy field.

4. Let go. Let them ride until they are comfortable.

For us, we did step 1 and then worked on riding the straight-a ways on the road. We tried the grass in our large back yard, but Doodle couldn't get up enough speed to keep balanced, so we headed back out to the street. I ran beside her and eventually let go and she just kept peddling by herself. Sometimes she would get distracted or stop peddling and lose balance and I would be running beside her to help her get back on track. Eventually she figured how to run into the grass when she was going to fall.  


We did this all the way around our neighborhood pond - which is about a 1/2 mile! By the end, she was off and peddling by herself without my help. I'm so excited for her!

 

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pancakes

So, I don't know about you, but I LOVE Pinterest. My love for Pinterest has quickly surpassed my love for Facebook. I love perusing through the creative pictures, recipes, arts and crafts out there on the web. What a great way to organize everything I love. 

I've been using this tool as a way to organize recipes for my family, myself (I'm a no carb/sugar person), and especially for Doodle. Well, the other day I found a fabulous pancake recipe for Doodle here. It looked delicious - and who wouldn't love the thought of cookie dough pancakes? Well, I didn't have cashews on hand, nor did I have amaranth flour, arrowroot, or brown rice flour on hand. (I live in the middle of nowhere, after all.) So, I adjusted the recipe to use the allergy friendly ingredients I did have on hand. Here goes:

1/4 Cup Sweet Rice Flour

1/4 Cup Pea Protein Powder

1/2 Cup Sorghum Flour
1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1/4 Cup AppleSauce
2 Tbsp Agave Nectar
1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
Ghiradelli Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

1. Preheat griddle and pre-season with oil. Mix together with a spatula the dry ingredients.
2. Add applesauce, agave nectar, and vegetable oil. 
3. Stir in chocolate chips. 
4. Place a small scoop of batter on griddle - the dough should be thicker than regular pancake batter. Flip when golden brown and repeat. 

I didn't make the marshmallow cream - these pancakes were sweet enough on their own. So, we added some pure maple syrup and Doodle enjoyed! I made the entire batch of pancakes and froze the leftovers for breakfast during the week. 

The End Is Near

It's hard to believe, but Doodle has less than 2 days left of first grade! Where did the year go? I can't complain - it's been a wonderful journey this year. I was nervous for Doodle, as I always am, starting first grade. How would she do in her first year without an Individual Education Plan (IEP)? Would she keep up with her peers? Would she understand math, reading, language arts?

I need to learn to have more faith in Doodle, but it's my job, as a mother, to worry about her. Or at least that's what I tell myself! I have to say, I'm so proud of the way she met every single challenge this year and worked through her struggles. Math was definitely a tough one. I feel like we finally turned a corner on that one - her end of the year test she got only 6 wrong out of 44 questions! She went from failing at the beginning of this last quarter to getting only 6 wrong! It definitely helped to turn math into a game with her. Playing hide and seek math was one of her favorite challenges.  Here's how it works:

1. Create multiple flash cards of math problems (start simple)
2. Hide them throughout your house (I kept it fairly localized)
3. Set a timer
4. When your child finds a flashcard, they run back, hand you the card, and tell you the answer
5. Give your child a reward for each correct answer (I used jelly beans or stickers)

This summer we will have to keep math fresh in her mind. I don't want her losing everything she learned over first grade during the summer. I'm sure if I create some kind of incentive for her, she'll dive right in and keep it up. She'll be ready for whatever comes in second grade!

Cheers to a great school year!

Gluten Free Vegan Banana Bread

Last week I discovered some completely over-ripe, rotten banana's that were left in my fruit bowl from Easter. Now, in my house, either banana's last one second after I buy them or they sit in the fruit bowl and rot for weeks. It's a mystery as to when my kids can't get enough of the fruit and when they will be completely bored with it and forget the banana's are there. Apparently, this time it was the latter scenario. So, what do you do with nasty banana's? Make banana bread, of course!

It's been awhile since I've made banana bread. The last time I did, Doodle was still eating eggs. You can find that recipe here. If you can't have eggs, like Doodle, here's the modified version - including a few additions. I added in Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate chips to this batch to make a delicious treat and protein powder to sneak some protein and offset the sugar. The bread turned out wonderful and Doodle enjoys it during her school snack.

Vegan Banana Bread

1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Agave Nectar
4 T Dairy Free Shortening
1 1/2 tsp Ener-g Egg Replacer
1 T warm water
3/4 Cup Almond Milk (or other milk substitute)
3  Cups GF Flour Blend
1/2 Cup Pea Protein Powder (substitute GF flour, if needed)
1 tsp Xanthan Gum
1 T & 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
3 over-ripe banana's - mashed
1/2 Cup Ghiradelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 1 bread loaf pan.
2. Mix sugar, agave nectar, shortening, with a mixer. Whisk together egg replacer and warm water. Add to sugar/shortening and mix.
3. Add in almond milk and banana's with mixer.
4. Stir in dry ingredients and chocolate chips until combined.
5. Split mixture between prepared loaf pans. Bake in oven for 50-60 minutes or until knife inserted in loaf comes out clean.

Dad's Worksheets

Well, we've been putting a lot of time and energy into helping Doodle with math. She was doing OK most of this year - getting B's for her grades. Then 4th quarter hit and WHAM! nothing but F's on her tests. It was heartbreaking! Plus, she wasn't progressing on her Rocket Math - you know, those darn timed math tests that really have no basis in the real world. As frustrating as these tests are as a parent, it's a necessary part of first grade, so we went on the hunt for a good tool to help Doodle out.

In my quest, I found this amazing website from a Dad who was trying to help his daughter out. It's called Dad's Worksheets and you can find it here: Dad's Worksheets. The worksheets available on this site emulates the Rocket Math curriculum that Doodle's teacher uses in class. For Doodle, she just needs to get 20 problems done in a minute to move on to the next level. I say just, like it's no big deal. In fact, it's a huge deal to Doodle. She has spent the majority of the year trying to get off of level A. It seemed insurmountable to her.

So, we printed out the worksheets and practiced every single night. After some concerted efforts, she was able to rise to level B! It also took some bribery of a large stuffed bunny from the local store - but she did it! Then, she did it again! She passed level B in a very short period of time! This time motivated by the promise of a new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book. Hey - whatever it takes! Now we are working on level C with hopes of surpassing before school ends on May 17th. I'm sure she will do it.

Vegan Sugar Cookies

Doodle loves cookies. I mean LOVES cookies. She really could live on cookies alone, if I let her. I make them because, selfishly, they make an easy snack to send to school. However, I also know that if she has too much sugar and not enough protein, I'm in for a rough evening when I pick her up from daycare. She is not a girl who can handle sugar without protein. So, I buy a pea protein powder from Kirkman Labs that I sneak into almost everything I bake for her. I love Kirkman Labs because I know they are all about pure ingredients that don't contain any of the common allergens. Kirkman is also a huge proponent in using diet and supplements to cure autism. So, I buy many things from them and the protein powder helps me sneak protein into cookies without Doodle noticing. A win-win!

Since we went egg-free in our household, it's been difficult to make a decent sugar cookie. The dough just seems to crumble which makes for a bad sugar cookie experience. Well, I finally figured out the missing ingredient - apple sauce! I added apple sauce to my latest batch of cookies and they turned out wonderfully - no more crumbly dough. Here's the recipe:

Vegan Sugar Cookies

1 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup agave nectar
1 T pure vanilla
1 T egg replacer
3 T warm water
2 heaping T apple sauce
1 1/4 cup Sweet Rice Flour
1 1/2 cup Sorghum Flour
1/4 pea protein powder (use extra sweet rice flour if you don't have this)
1.5 tsp baking soda
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt

1. Combine shortening, sugar, agave nectar, vanilla in a large bowl. Beat generously.
2. In a small bowl whisk together egg replacer and warm water until frothy. Add to sugar mixture and beat. Stir in apple sauce.
3. Combine sweet rice flour, sorghum flour, protein powder, baking soda, xanthan gum and salt in a bowl. Gradually add to sugar/shortening mixture while beating with a mixer. Mix well.
4. Form dough into 2 balls and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
5. Sprinkle some sweet rice flour on a large, clean surface and roll out dough with a rolling pin. Cut into desired shapes with a cookie cutter. Repeat step 5 as necessary.
6. Bake in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for 8-10 minutes. Cool on baking rack. Frost with your favorite frosting once cool.

I store the cookies un-frosted in the freezer and take out one at a time for school snack. I add a bit of frosting, before sending to school, that I keep frozen in our freezer.

Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes

My niece was telling me about the vegan carrot cake she made for my sister's 45th birthday in March. She said "It's GOOOD :) (yes 3 O's good)" and that's a direct quote! Well, I had lots of desserts planned for Easter that were not conducive to Doodle's diet, so I thought I would adapt the recipe shared by my niece and make it Gluten Free. The original recipe can be found here: Vegan Carrot Cake. I chose to make the cake into cupcakes, so I could freeze some and use them for school snacks.

Here's the adapted recipe:

1 cup Sorghum Flour
1 cup Sweet Rice Flour
1 cup Sugar
1/4 Brown Sugar
2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Salt

2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
3 cups Shredded Carrots
3/4 cups Vegetable Oil
1/2 cup Orange Juice
1/2 cup Raisins
1/2 cup Coconut

1. Mix the sorghum flour, sweet rice flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl.
2. Add shredded carrots and oil and mix well with a spatula.
3. Add orange juice and mix well with a spatula.
4. Add raisins and coconut and mix well with a spatula.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with liners and scoop batter into liners. Bake 30 - 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle of cupcake comes out clean.
6. Cool on baking rack - frost with favorite frosting. (I cheated and used store bought!)

These cupcakes were delicious - Doodle even agreed to share one with the Easter Bunny, who thoroughly enjoyed every bite!

Math Madness

Well, we are on the downhill side of first grade - where has the year gone? It seems that time really does fly when you have kids in school. This year, that has truly been the case. Every year that Doodle starts a new grade, I worry about how she will keep up with her peers, will she make friends, will she fit in on the playground, can she keep up. This year was no exception.

Doodle, of course, has surprised me and done exceptionally well in school. She really loves it. This year, however, she has met her arch nemesis - Math! She has struggled all year, but still scored well on most of her tests and came home with B-, B, and B+. It seemed she was improving, that is, until this quarter hit. She has brought home 2 F's in a row! On her quarter review test, she missed simple things that she had mastered months before. I think that I was more devastated than she was when she brought home the test. My heart just breaks that she has to struggle so hard in this subject. 

So, as with most things, I'm on a mission to make it better. I felt like we had tried most things: flashcards (didn't help), online games (she liked, but didn't help make progress), a Toy Story math book (helped some), and I even resorted to bribery. So, I decided to get out my Cri-Cut machine and make my own version of flashcards. First, I cut out some tags, then glued numbers to the tags and different colored stars representing the numbers to give her visual cues. I started real simple: 1+2, 3+1, 4+1, just to help her get through her Rocket Math timed tests. Then, I created tags with numbers from 0-9 with touch points that represent the number and help her count. I'm teaching her to use the number to help her figure out the math problem. The number 3, for example, had three different points, so she can use the points to count and come up with the answer.  This seems to be helping.

Also, a friend suggested we try hide and seek math. I hide 5 flashcards and she has 5 minutes to find the flashcards, bring them to me, and give me the answer. She really likes this game and it seems to be helping. I imagine, however, that we will continue this routine right through the summer months so we don't take a step backwards. I know second grade will be even more challenging with math.

First Quarter of First Grade

It's been a long first quarter of first grade and so my posting has gotten sporadic. Doodle's grandfather was diagnosed with cancer and hospitalized recently - so life has been hectic around our house.

The good news for us is that Doodle is doing well in school. Her teacher reports that she is able to pay attention in class this year and has made some friends. She is a wiz at spelling - one of my big worries at the beginning of the year. She has gotten only one word wrong total on 8 tests - that's 79 out of 80 correct! She was also placed in the top level of her class for reading - she is an amazing reader and I'm so proud of her!

Math is proving to be more difficult for Doodle. While she is a great reader, it's really hard for her to read a math problem and translate that into an action of what she needs to do to solve the problem. Maybe I'm getting old, but I don't remember having to tackle story problems in the first grade. The great news for this week, however, is that Doodle aced her math test! She was able to complete her math homework without assistance and got all of the problems correct - then she aced her math test this week. Maybe something is starting to click.

I don't know if other parents with autistic children experience the incredible ability for their child to procrastinate? Doodle is a master procrastinator and it makes school mornings tough on me. This past weekend I devised a new system to help my mornings go smoother. I made tags with pictures of the activities she needs to do in the morning: Get Dressed, Brush Teeth, Eat Breakfast, Put on Shoes/Coat. Then I hung up 2 hooks - I Can Do It and I Did It. She moves each tag from the I Can Do It hook to the I Did It hook after she completes each task. This week she was up and dressed in record time. I didn't have to nag her about anything. I'm not sure how long it will last, but it sure made for a much easier morning this week.

First Two Weeks of First Grade

Well we've officially wrapped up 2 weeks of school today. Time sure does fly! Doodle has settled into First Grade quite nicely and is doing wonderful. Last night we had parent night at her school and I touched base with her teacher. I had my concerns about Doodle's ability to focus and keep up with her class, especially since she is no longer on an Individual Education Plan this year and receives no special services. The teacher was happy to report that for the most part, Doodle is keeping up and hasn't had nearly the attention issue she struggled with last year. That's great news! I hope it continues throughout the year.

I'm wondering if she is focusing better this year because she is more mature or if it is because we modified her diet again and removed corn? I've read many articles that list yellow foods as one source of ADD/ADHD.So, we decided to take Doodle off of corn this summer and see how she reacted. This one was a bit harder to implement, since we typically ate mixed vegetables that included corn at every dinner - and Doodle LOVES corn. I now have to buy beans, peas, carrots separately and make my own mixed vegetables for dinner. She sometimes complains that she really wants to eat corn again, and I feel bad as a parent that I have to keep removing from her diet all of the foods she loves: dairy, eggs, and now corn. She is a trooper about it all, however. Her teacher said she is very good about saying what she can and cannot eat at snack time. She's probably the only child in her class who understands the ingredients in the food she can/cannot eat.

To determine if Doodle truly has an issue with corn, I really should re-introduce it into her diet for a few days and see what happens. Do I dare? I don't want to send her backwards in school if she is doing so well - maybe we'll wait until a holiday break and try it then. I'll let you know how it turns out.

First Day of First Grade

It's hard to believe but Doodle started First Grade last Monday! That morning she bounded in our room at 5:50 AM to tell us she was super excited for school to start - you've gotta love the enthusiasm of a First Grader. We're fortunate that her school continues to support us in Doodle's restricted diet. They allow Doodle to heat her lunch up in the microwave at school and I send snack/juice for their afternoon snack break. It makes our school lunch fairly simple. They have offered to cook for her, but she now has 4 different restrictions and I fear they may not be able to keep them all straight, so I continue to send lunch with her.

First Day of First Grade

Last year, we had such difficulty getting our doctor to sign a form that states she needs a restricted diet. I was so frustrated and living in a small town doesn't give you a lot of doctoring options. This year, a new pediatrician has come to town and we decided to give him a try. I have to say, I was pretty impressed with how thorough he was. He clearly had done his homework on Doodle and spent over an hour just talking to me about Doodle's developmental delay, autism symptoms, and inability to focus. He was also great with Doodle - showing her pictures of his dogs and talking to her on her level. He had no hesitation about signing a doctors order restricting her diet from gluten, dairy, and eggs. What a relief - if he doesn't work out, I will need to drive 90 miles or 120 miles just to visit a doctor for Doodle. Ugh!

For snacks, I've modified my Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe once again to remove the eggs from them - since Doodle can no longer tolerate eggs. Here's the new recipe:

1 1/3 Cup Sweet Rice Flour
1 Cup Sorghum Flour
1 Cup Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Flour
2 tsp Xanthan Gum
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 Cup Shortening
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Light Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Agave Nectar
1 T Vanilla
1 T Egg Replacer
1/4 Cup warm water


1/2 Package Dairy Free Chocolate Chips (I use Ghiradelli Semi Sweet)

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine Flours, Baking Soda, and Xanthan Gum in a small bowl. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl combine Shortening, Sugar, Brown Sugar, Vanilla. Cream together on high speed.
4. Whisk together egg replacer and warm water until frothy. Add to Shortening mixture and mix on high speed.
5. Add to mixture dry ingredients and mix on high speed. With a spatula, stir in chocolate chips. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
6. Prepare a baking sheet with non-stick spray. Drop cookies by the spoonful onto baking sheet and bake for 9 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on baking sheet for 1 minute. Remove cookies from pan and place on cooling rack.

A Dairy Free Reminder....

Today Doodle came home from the neighbor's house just screaming in pain, complaining her stomach was upset. She had accidentally eaten popcorn at the neighbor's house with butter on it - a big NO - and now she was paying the price. At our house, I am so diligent about not allowing dairy to sneak into her diet because I know the consequences - but it's hard to control what happens at other people's house and popcorn is one of her favorite treats. At our house, I purchase Kettle Corn that is dairy free and Doodle is free to pop it herself and enjoy. Lesson learned, for her!

After a long nap, Doodle's stomach troubles were cured and we decided to make Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats for a snack this week. The recipe is so simple and I love that it adds a little bit of protein to an otherwise sweet treat.

Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats

2 Tbsp Earth Balance Dairy Free Butter
1/2 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
40 to 50 marshmallows
1 box Gluten Free Rice Krispies

1. In a large pot, melt dairy free butter and creamy peanut butter over medium heat.
2. Stir in marshmallows. Continue stirring until completely melted.
3. Pour in Rice Krispies and stir until marshmallow mixture completely mixed in.
4. Pour into a greased 9" x 13" pan and spread evenly. Cut into even squares and serve.

Turning 7

We've had a busy summer and it's hard to believe that there are less than 4 weeks until school starts. Our Doodle is going into first grade and I'm trying to prep for this by stocking up meals in the freezer and adjusting her diet to exclude corn in the hopes she will have better luck paying attention this year. A summer filled with playing in the pool will soon turn to a busy fall filled with new teachers, new classmates, and homework. I'm confident this year that Doodle will keep up with her class better and make new friends. I've noticed over the summer that she has had an easier time making friends at the playground. She used to shy away from talking to other kids and sometimes wouldn't even play on the equipment if other kids were there. Now, she strikes up conversations with other children and forms friendships. It's so awesome to see her blossom!

Happy Birthday Doodle!

Doodle turned 7 years old and to celebrate we had a great lunch together (at her favorite joint - Hardee's) and then went to see Cars 2 in the theater. She has ordered up some vegan pumpkin waffles for dinner tonight and a vegan vanilla cake for dessert. Since we've gone egg free, I have considerably cut back on my baking for Doodle - it's not as easy as it used to be. Fortunately, there are some great recipes on the Internet and I found just what she needs for her menu.

The Gluten Free Goddess has a wonderful vegan Vanilla Cupcake recipe that I whipped up to bake a heart shaped cake for Doodle. You can find it here:

 http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2009/08/vanilla-cupcakes-with-mocha-icing.html

 I skipped the mocha icing and bought some dairy free frosting at the store. Hopefully Doodle enjoys here cake this year.

For the waffles - I have found a wonderful recipe that we all enjoy - they taste phenomenal! You can find the recipe here:

http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2008/09/gluten-free-pumpkin-waffles.html

We may top it all off with a trip to Cold Stone this weekend with Grandpa & Grandma where Doodle can enjoy a cup of Sorbet.

Enjoy!

Simple Pizza

Summer is here and I am in need of simple recipes for my girls to eat at lunch time. They would be perfectly happy consuming spaghetti every single day throughout the summer - but some variety is needed before they burn completely out. So, Doodle and I invented a super simple way to make 'pizza' for her.

Simple Pizza:

1 Gluten free Tortilla
1-2 Tbsp Pizza Quick Pizza Sauce
10 slices pepperoni
Handful of Daiya Mozzarella & Cheddar cheese each

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place Tortilla on a Pizza cooking sheet and top with Pizza Quick sauce, pepperoni, and Daiya cheese.
3. Place in oven and cook until cheese is melted - 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from oven and slice into 4 pieces. A perfect simple pizza is born!

Apparently Dad tried to make this recipe while I was traveling and ended up using regular tortilla's rather than the gluten free variety. The good news is that Doodle didn't have a reaction! She's not as sensitive to gluten as she is to dairy and eggs - but we keep it out of her diet just to be on the safe side.

Doodle informed me today that she would rather be in school because summer is boring! How refreshing since she was begging for school to end just one month ago. Glad to know she will be happy to start early mornings, homework, and long days of learning all over again in the first grade.

I've been very impressed with how Doodle has learned to read and write. She has written her kindergarten teacher several letters now, all by herself. She diligently sounds out the words and writes them in the letter - it's so adorable. Her wonderful teacher is great about responding and sending a note back. Wish she was coming with us to first grade!

A long break

I've been re-miss in posting on my blog - mostly because I haven't been inspired to create new recipes and Doodle is doing so well. First of all, let me start with a progress updated. Doodle completed her 7 year old assessment at school and the results were what I had hoped to achieve by the time she left 2nd grade - so a whole 2 years early she tested out of the special ed program! She is by no means a genius, but she does test equivalent to her peers. Main concern, of course, is her ability to pay attention. We're still working on that - but she will no longer need any adaptive services next year - all of our hard work, consistency, and dedication has paid off!

Second, an egg update. Back in April, I wrote that we had taken Doodle off of eggs and tomatoes to see if it would help her pay better attention. It didn't. So, we added eggs and tomatoes back into her diet, one at a time. Funny thing happened, she started complaining about stomach aches. Then one morning I fed her eggs before school and I received a call from the nurse that she was in her office puking and had diarrhea - exactly the same thing that happens when she has milk. Guess eggs are an issue after all - so we are now egg free permanently. Tomatoes don't seem to cause the same issue. We will try corn next - it may also be a culprit to her lack of ability to pay attention.

Finally, to our delight today at the grocery store, we found Gluten Free Rice Krispies from Kellogg's! We've been waiting for Kellogg's to get on the Gluten Free band wagon and today was the day our store stocked their shelves! I purchased 2 boxes and rushed home to make one box into Gluten Free Dairy Free Rice Krispy treats - they were delicious! Doodle was so happy, I think she gobbled up 3 bars right away. So happy she can experience these simple joys once again -- and they taste exactly like the regular Rice Krispies. Thank you Kellogg's! You've made on little girl very happy.

One Week Without Eggs

It's probably completely coincidental, but two amazing things happened this week, the first week Doodle has been egg free.

1.  Doodle's teacher sent home a note on Friday stating that Doodle was initiating conversation at school and had asked several kids to play with her. During her conferences, her teacher expressed concern that Doodle would play near other kids, but she hadn't ever seen her initiate conversation. 
2. Usually getting Doodle to clean up anything takes a herculean effort with lots of reminders to finish her task. Last night, I asked Doodle to pick up her room before bed, then left for a few minutes. Upon my return, her entire room was spotless! Who was this child?

Is this due to the removal of eggs? Time will tell. We're trying it out for the next 5 weeks to see if any positive behavior changes result - specifically her ability to focus at school. Stay tuned to find out the results.

By the way, I made my first batch of egg-free brownies last night - they were fabulous! I found the recipe from the Gluten Free Goddess here. I'll have to try them as cookies next time around.

Residual Autism

We had conferences for Doodle this week with her Kindergarten teacher. Doodle is in the midst of being tested through the school to see if she continues to qualify for special education. We will have that update in another month, but I wanted to see how she was doing in the classroom, prior to getting the test results back. Doodle has just the nicest, kindest, sweetest Kindergarten teacher you can imagine. She is very loving and patient - at least as far as I can see. I was very impressed with how far Doodle has come, as was her teacher. Doodle keeps up with her class academically and has made terrific progress in both reading and math. We just need to work on forming numbers correctly and in the right order all of the time.

One area of concern continues to be her ability to pay attention. Her teacher expressed concern again about being easily distracted. She can stay on task during an assignment at her table, but has difficulty focusing when doing other things like tying her shoes or getting ready to go outside for recess. She also mentioned that Doodle has a hard time making eye contact. She will initially look you in the eye, but turns away quickly. She also has difficulty approaching someone to play with her. She will play near other kids and wait for them to address her. I'm calling this residual autism. Once the kids notice her, they will invite her to play, but she rarely asks other children at school to play with her. It's hard for me to see this, as she constantly is asking other children in the neighborhood to play with her. She's best friends with our neighbor's daughter and they are constantly running between the two houses. I'm thinking she takes a long time to warm up to kids, but once she does, she is comfortable asking kids to play with her. Hopefully she will learn to overcome this trait.

As a result of the conferences, my husband and I have decided to try to eliminate more from her diet. Seems daunting to eliminate even more than dairy and gluten. I recently read an article where the researchers found that diet is equally effective in treating ADHD as medication.  The researches had children follow the Restricted Elimination Diet where they eliminated milk, gluten, eggs, and tomatoes from the children's diet. Since we are already gluten and dairy free, we've decided to eliminate eggs and tomatoes. Just like when we eliminated milk and gluten, I didn't really realize how often we use eggs and tomatoes. Eggs, in fact, are a staple in our house and it won't be easy finding a substitute for our morning breakfast routine. If you have any tips, let me know - I'm sure I will be fumbling around with this diet change for the next few weeks until we get it right.

Pizza Quesadilla's

A few weeks ago we were given some gluten free products to sample. I'm normally skeptical, as most commercial gluten free products don't compare to our own homemade versions. However, this time we were given some gluten free tortilla's from French Meadow Bakery in Minneapolis to try from a friend. Doodle was so excited to try them as Quesadilla's with her Daiya dairy free cheese. She has been hooked ever since!  The other day she took it upon herself to make her Quesadilla's while her dad was in another room. She pulled the tortilla's out of the freezer, added her dairy free cheese, and topped the whole thing with pepperoni. Then she hunted down her dad to cook the whole thing on the stove top. Their super easy to make and Doodle LOVES them.  The tortilla's are soft and taste just like the regular gluten filled version. I'm going to have to pick some up next time I'm in the Minneapolis area.

Pizza Quesadilla's

2 Gluten Free Tortilla's
1/4 Cup Daiya Dairy Free Cheese
6-10 slices pepperoni
Dairy free butter or Olive Oil

1. On one of the tortilla's spread the dairy free cheese and pepperoni. Top with the second tortilla.
2. Heat frying pan and butter or olive oil over medium high heat. Place tortilla's in pan and let fry for 1-2 minutes or until slightly brown.
3. With a spatula, flip the tortilla's and brown the other side. Remove and enjoy!

If you haven't tried French Meadow Bakery gluten free products - I encourage you to do so. They are delicious! Become a fan on Facebook, too...It's wonderful to have great gluten free food, so nearby. A rare find!